by David P. Greisman
Sergio Martinez and Martin Murray both had a little less than a month to lose about 10 pounds for their April 27 middleweight championship fight in Buenos Aires, Argentina, according to figures provided by World Boxing Council official William Boodhoo.
Martinez came in at 77.4 kilograms, or about 170.6 pounds, on March 28, a figure certified by Don Antonio Martín Galán of the Federación Española de Boxeo, according to the WBC. Murray, meanwhile, came in at 12 stone and 2 pounds, or 170 pounds, on March 28; that figure was certified by a British Boxing Board of Control inspector.
The maximum either fighter could have been is 176 pounds, which they were well within. The WBC’s 30-day weigh-in requires fighters to be within 10 percent of what they must be when they step on the scales. Martinez and Murray had their weights certified 30 days before their bout and 29 days before their final weigh-in.
Martinez, 38, last fought in December, when he survived a final-round knockdown to win an otherwise wide unanimous decision over Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. That victory brought his record to 50-2-2 with 28 knockouts.
Murray, 30, is coming off a sixth-round stoppage of Jorge Navarro last November. That win improved his record to 25-0-1 with 11 knockouts.
David P. Greisman is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Follow David on Twitter @fightingwords2 or send questions/comments via email at fightingwords1@gmail.com
